Pynchon & rap

[jbor]

on 7/7/01 8:43 PM, lorentzen-nicklaus at lorentzen-nicklaus at t-online.de
wrote:

>> The discussion about a
>> "Revolution" in music in _M&D_ which Otto noted isn't simply a discussion
>> about musical fads in the eighteenth century: it refers directly to
>> contemporary music as well.
> 
> ... which becomes clear with one of the book's best jokes:
> 
> "'don't know, coz. much of your faith seems invested in this novel
> musick,---' 
> 'where better?' asks young ethelmer confidently. is it not the very rhythm
> of the engines, the clamor of the mills, the rock of the oceans, the roll
> of the drums at night, why if one wish'd to give it a name, --- '
> 'surf-music!' depugh cries." (264)
> 
> thanks for this substancial posting of yours! kai //:: ps: surf-music appears
> also in vineland.

Hi Kai. Yes, it's almost as if DePugh (the name gives away something of
Pynchon's feelings about this character's attitudes I think) isn't willing
to acknowledge the fact that the music which the others are discussing *is*
"Negroe Musick". He calls it "Surf Musick", which, if you apply it to its
modern frame of reference, refers to the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, 'Wipeout'
etc: all of which at the time was seen very much as the "white" alternative
to the overtly "black"-influenced music of Elvis, the Stones &c. Ethelmer
then observes that DePugh will soon be off "haggling in the Alleys" to buy
his guitar (i.e. to play this style of music) from "Caribbean Negroes". One
point that is being made here I think is that both the musical structures of
"Surf Music" (an offshoot of "rock and roll") and the harmonised vocals
("the flatted Fifths, the vocal *portamenti*") also derive from black Gospel
and soul roots, that is, that it owes the same debt to "the Negroe Musick"
Ethelmer is referring to as the other styles.

My knowledge of music isn't good enough to visualise (auralise?) what the
toe-tapping "Air" which Ethelmer plays for them as an example might equate
to -- the tempo of a minuet, 32 measures, four stanza, eight bars, sandwich
and filling etc (262) -- I wonder if it is the classic verse-chorus-verse
structure of the standard three minute pop song?

I find the discussions between the family members (as the Reverend's tale of
M&D's exploits starts and stops) as interesting as the "main" story itself.
It also strikes me that _M&D_ is similar in structure to _V._ more than
_GR_: a "historical novel" interspersed by depictions of the contemporary
locale of the tale-telling.

best